Austrian GP (Sunday, january 29th, 2012) – Race Report, by Sexy Brigadeiro 
First thing to say: This was our most ‘crowded’ race on the season so far! 23 drivers, of the 24 avaliable seats – that was GREAT!!!
And just like we knew from the practice sessions throughout the week, the race also had a GREAT potential: the circuit was short, easy (although a little bit tricky in a few spots) and fast, which put lots of drivers together on their hotlaps, lots of drafts and amazing fights & overtakes… which also made everything a little more dangerous and unpredictable…
So, let’s start from the end (LOL)...
It was another GREAT victory for the Bafana Bafana Guy, AKA Soutie, AKA Sam, AKA He-Is-Faster-Than-Us-All-DAMN!!! Anyway… No storms on South Africa today, so he was able to get the pole and to stay on the lead the whole race and after 35 laps of pure pressure from the Force India Young Dracula, AKA ADI, AKA Adrian, AKA He-Thinks-He-Is-Faster-Than-Sexy (bwahahaha...) Soutie was able to actually finish his 2nd race on the season so far – and guess what?!... 2 races (finished)... 2 victories – BAM!!! On your face, motherfooks!!! Ok, ok, we must count that race in Monaco that he DIDN'T finish because of those storms and blab bla bla... Still every race he finished so far... he won! So, congrats Sam for the amazing job and stats!
ADI also had a GREAT race, even without having a good qualifying... He started in 7th place, but was able to go to 4th place after the 1st lap and got two positions on the following laps overtaking Tom McKay and then Stig and finally got to 2nd place and started hunting Soutie down... literally! Lap after lap ADI was trying his best to go faster than Sam – who is always fast as we all know – DUH!... – but still ADI was being able to go faster than him in lots of laps, which made Sam a little annoyed and worried and he almost prayed for another storm, so IF he was overtaken, he would have a good excuse...
Still Sam was able to ‘hold’ ADI and just stayed on the lead the whole race, even after the pit stop and also didn’t have problems in lapping the other guys, who gently opened/reduced allowing him and the other faster guys to pass. ADI trailed the best he could, was faster than Sam in lot of laps and even had the fastest lap of the whole race with 1:09.545, but still it wasn’t enough to get to Sam, who won the race 2.6 seconds ahead of ADI. Stig was the other guy on the lowest place of the podium – but don’t make fun of him! At least he was there!
BTW, Stig (AKA The-Most-Fantastic-Human-Being-EVAH-Or-At-Least-He-Thinks-So) had a good and clean start and also tried to go after Soutie on the 1st laps, but he found out that was REALLY hard... And on the 4th lap, he made a mistake on T3 and was overtaken by ADI. Stig stayed on the 3rd place for almost the entire race, except when ADI went to his pit stop and Stig recovered the 2nd place for a lap. Then he went to his own pit stop and came back on 4th place, because Sven was one of the lat ones to stop for tires, but when he finally stopped, Stig was able to recover his 3rd place. At the final laps Stig had a hard time trying to hold Otti and they had some good fights for about 10 laps! And on the 29th lap, they switched positions 3 times and Otti finally got the 3rd place! But on the 30th lap, Stig was able to overtake Otti again and made sure he wasn’t going to lose that 3rd place again – still Otti kept giving some pressure on Stig’s ass (Wait!... Wtf?!... Anyway...) still it was not enough for the ‘I’m Not Swiss, Cheese!’ guy to get to the podium this time... Congrats the both of you for the amazing and clean fight!
As for me... my race was good, but it could’ve been better for sure!... I started in 10th place (originally I would start in 11th, but with some other guys penalties – thanks, guys! – I earned an extra place – yay!) and I finished in 5th. I had a good start and was able to avoid crashes and race incidents at the 1st corner and 1st lap – I will talk about that next... just keep reading, kids! – and I jumped from 10th to 5th on the 1st lap, ‘Ayrton Senna In Donigtom 93 style’ – ha! But since I’m not Senna (unfortunately... well... maybe fortunately, because... he is dead now, you know?!... Anyway...) I was trying to gain more positions – which I did: I got to 4th place after Tom McKay tried to suicide... Or some new stunt driver way to make a crazy race strategy with a drive through on the 3rd lap... (I’ll talk about that later too)... But, as I was saying, I’m not Senna, so... while I was trying to go after ADI and Stig, I made a silly mistake on the 7th lap, by going to the gravel on the last 2 corners and that was enough to let Stig get away (damn, I was a little faster than him!) and then I had Luft_inspektor trying to get close to my ass, but... I actually don't like that kind of thing and... my girlfriend is jealous... But while having a good fight with him, I made another mistake and almost lost complete control of my car, so I had to brake a little bit too much to actually keep my car on track (yep, on the same last 2 corners – the tricky ones) and then while recovering from the mistake, I got hit on the back by Otti and went to the gravel again (nice!)... losing 5 places and dropping to 9th... yay... NOT!!! -.- Anyway... I tried my best to make a recovery race and was able to go faster than some guys in front of me and after the pit stop, I was in 8th place and was able to overtake the two McLarens in a good and clean fight with Joe and then Grisu – after Sven stopped, I got back to 5th place and was able to go, once again, faster than Otti and Stig who were in front of me, but not enough to get closer to them and to overtake them, so... yep, I believe I could’ve been 3rd and got my 1st podium, but there’s no one else to blame but ME, for it was all because of my own mistakes and no excuses needed... Well, giving it a better thought... I guess I wish I was Senna now... except that I also wish I could stay alive...
Another important highlights (or not exactly ‘highlights’...) from other drivers:
- 1st corner wasn’t so crashy EXCEPT for our dear Belarus friend, Bober, who braked a 'little bit' to late and seemed to be bowling or something (Grisu said ‘thank you!’)... Still I’m sorry for hitting him on the back at the 14th lap (T3), but I SWEAR he was too slow and (THIS time he) braked too much! I even tried to go over the internal kerb to avoid him... Unfortunately it was impossible. He spun and is probably mad at me... But I’m honestly sorry.
- Arnoldinhu tried to avoid the ones who crashed in front of him (since he started last), but ended up hitting Giorgos on the back and losing his front wing... He made a pit stop at the end of the 1st lap for a new wing and on the 2nd lap, guess what?!... He lost control of his car and hit the wall and broke the suspension... Another pit stop at the end of the 2nd lap for him... And right after leaving the pits, his engine blew... - definitely a race to forget! Sorry, Arnie! See you on Fuji!
- Antonio Hreljanovic did a GREAT start, jumping from 19th to 12th place (he was even in front of his dad, Sven!), but at T3 (yet on 1st lap) he went to the grass a little bit and hit Bober (who was on the grass too, recovering from a previous race incident - or having a snack?!...) and lost his front wing... went to the pits, got back on track, but due to the lack of practice, made some mistakes, went out of the track a few more times, was overtaken by almost everyone and abandoned the race at the beginning of the 8th lap... Better luck next week, buddy!
- Sonny once again was driving like if he had one hand on the wheel and another hand holding some ‘russian beer’, but he was actually doing a good job until he had some connection issue at the end of the 9th lap – now I feel really sorry for him... On MY replay, he just went straight on the last corner and suddenly appeared on the pits (but without actually crashing) - I also wish you a better luck at Fuji – and guys, someone PLEASE buy Sonny a new table – he said he HAS a wheel, but just can’t put it on his table, so now he needs a new table instead... and a little bit more alcohol, as always!
- Luft_inspektor had a good fight with me and I’m still sorry for slightly touching him (not on purpose, obviously) at T3, lap 2, which was ebough for him to step on the grass and lose time and a couple of places... But after that another silly mistake I made (when I was hit by Otti), he was able to ‘get rid’ of me again and then had a nice fight with ax89, until he hit the internal wall of the last corner, at the 11th lap and lost his front wing. After trying his best to get to the pits and fix it, he was hit by his own teammate Tom McKay, who didn’t expect him to be so slow – so THAT was certainly a race incident and also an unfortunate ‘friendly fire’... and while Luft was trying to recover, he was hit again by King Dario, at the pit entrance – Oh, boy, what a mess!... He was able to literally drag his car until the pit, but the crew saw it was just impossible to fix all of that shit so... he was forced to abandon... It was a shame, because he clearly had a chance to have a better and pretty good race – just like his teammate Tom McKay – so... it was a bad day for the Red Bull team...
- Tom Mckay on the other hand, had a good start, going from 6th to 3th after T1, but he was overtaken by ADI and then got the place back before T2. Then he was overtaken by Bober_Belarus and once again, with a smart maneuver, giving Bober the internal (right) side of of the braking point to T3, he was able to get the place back again and Bober, who braked a little bit too late (again) ended up on the grass (and that's actually why Antonio ended up hitting him, remember?!)... But Tom was pressured by ADI a little ahead and it was impossible to hold him, so Tom was again on 4th place, until he just stepped the kerb a little bit too much right before the last corner and his car spun and ended up getting into the pit entrance – LOL – 'Tommy Mac Eye' had no choice but to take a ride at the Pit Lane Park (AKA making a ‘self forced drive through’)... He waved to the pit crew and also to some blonde chick who waved back saying ‘call me!’... And when Tom got back to reality, he was on 19th place and started a recovering race... He had a hard time trying not to make mistakes and waste time with fights, but still the best he could do was to go back to 10th place before his 'real pit stop' (for changing tires) at the 18th lap. Then he got back to 15th place, was able to make it up to the 12th place a few laps later and while trying to get to 11th place, he slightly hit Sven on the back at T1, on the 27th lap and spun, falling to 13th place... He actually tried to avoid Sven, who was slower than him, but Tom ended up stepping on the external kerb a little bit (and also touching Sven’s ass – ooh, you nasty boys!), which was enough to make him spin... And at T3 on the 31st lap, Tom lost his rear and hit the wall also losing his front wing... He was overtaken by Alex Hill, falling to 14th, the place in which he stayed until the end of the race, even after being forced to go to the pits for the 3rd time... I guess he REALLY liked that blonde (and I hope it wasn't a drag queen)... - oh, don’t cry, Sven! [/w Tom: call him too!...]
Sven had a good start. Jumped from 13th to 9th on the 1st lap and then to 7th place at the end of the 2nd lap. But he got some pressure from Otti and Luft and ended up going back to 9th place. After that, he little by little earned a few positions here and there and tried to stay on the track the best he could – I mean, he was the last one to go for the pit stop and he gained a lot of places by doing that! He only made his stop at the 24th lap, when he was in 3rd place! Great race until then, Boss! He came back in 9th place and had a good fight with Ax, going to 8th and while trying to overtake Joe McLaggen, he went to the gravel on the last corner and got back to 11th place!... Right after that, he and Tom had their little ‘affair’, as mentioned above... At the last laps, Sven had a good fight with Joe and Arek and... damn, Boss, you’re lucky!!! Right after being overtaken by both of them, they got out of the track and you got their positions back, going to 9th! And a little ahead, you also got ax’s position, because he ran out of fuel on the lap 34th (with only ONE lap remaining) – so, Sven finished 8th and gave Ferrari a few more points!
Ax89 also had a pretty good race, but was a little bit out of luck... He started well, had some good fights with other drivers and was earning positions little by little. He got up to 5th place when he stopped to change tires at the end of the 18th lap. Got back on track at the 11th place and once again kept having some good fights and earning some positions, little by little, getting up to the 6th place, BUT... on the 34th lap... well, you’ve just read what happened above – I guess all luck was given to Sven and stolen from ax – LOL! Still ax was able to finish at 11th place – he started at 12th, so... it was a ‘positive’ (you earned 1 position fron start to finish) race in a way or the other... LOL
Giorgos was out of luck at the start... he got hit on the back by Arnoldinhu and lost his rear wing, which made almost impossible to drive and get his car back to the pits... he spun at least 3 times trying to get there... But still he did it and got back on the race, even on the back of the grid. He was able to earn a few positions from the other guys who abandoned the race and he got up to the 19th place, when he abandoned at the 20th lap, after being hit by Alex Hill on T2 - did you just give up, Giorgos?...
Alex Hill had a messy start and dropped from 11th to 14th place at the end of the 1st lap. Then little by little was trying to recover and his best place was 6th, right before stopping for tires at the end of the 19th lap. He got back in 16th place and once again was trying to recover and earn a few positions – which he did and finished in 13th place – not a good race for the China Boy, also because it was the 1st time he was lapped... shit happens, mate – cheers!
Goa09 had a good 1st lap too! He went from 20th to 16th place! But on the following laps, while fighting against Jure Pazin for the 15th place, he ended up losing his place to Bober_Belarus and Arek, droping to 18th and at the 5th lap, after his own mistake while accelerating on T3, he spun and fell to 20th place again... He was able to earn a few more positions, but lost everything when he strangely abandoned the race at the end of the 20th lap...
King Dario DIDN’T chat – YAY!!! (and he also started at 22nd and finished at 17th with a blown engine – and still it was an improvement – everybody knows how fast he is at BMW Battlestats and when he finally ‘learn’ the LMT mod, he’s gonna be a tough driver – he actually did some pretty good and fast laps at the practice and at the quali. He only started at 22nd, because he was penalized for chatting over and over again both in Turkey and on Monaco during quali and/or race sessions – now that the FINALLY didn’t chat, he got his ‘best’ result so far – 3 races only – and if he doesn’t make the same mistakes again, he won’t be penalized at Fuji, so... he has a chance to do an even better race there – we’ll see!...)
Jure Pazin wasn’t able to do a good race like he did in Monaco and after lots of ups and downs, he started at 16th and also finished in 16th place...
BläckFöx also finished in the same position he started: 15th place. He was able to go up to 10th place before his pit stop for tires at the end of the 13th lap. But unfortunately, at the beginning on the 20th lap, at T1, while on 12th place and having Tom McKay up on his ass (I didn’t know you liked those things, Black! You should tell Stig...), Black stepped the external kerb a little bit and it was enough to make him spin and ended up hitting the wall on the right side of the track and losing his front wing... After replacing his wing, he got back in 17th place, but was able to overtake Dario and Jure and finished in 15th place – but we must THANK YOU, Black, because once again you LEFT us go faster than you, since you only used 0,0000001% of your total strength, right?... Yeah, right!...
Grisu did a pretty good race, but was also extremely out of luck!... He was the one hit harder by Bober on T1 at the start and fell from 4th to 19th place... He was ‘lucky’ not to break his rear wing and then he started a recovering race. He decided to try a completely different strategy – probably to get out of the huge traffic from the 1st laps – so he went to his pit stop (for tires) at the end of the 4th lap! Would he be able to make 31 laps with softs?!... Well... the answer is NO. He tried his best to save the tires, but after recovering LOTS of positions and going up to 5th place, he was forced to do another stop at the end of the lap 34th, after being overtaken by me, ax, Bober and Denis... But Grisu actually spun at the pit entrance and it seems that he just gave up – I don’t blame him... He got his whole race screwed up by another driver... I know how it feels...
Arek also got his share of bad luck... again... At the start, while being careful and trying to avoid the other cars and not get involved in race incidents, he went out of the track on T1 and tried to accelerate carefully, so he wouldn’t spin, but the fact is that he dropped from 3rd to 9th place and then was struggling behind Ax... And at the last 2 corners, although Arek was faster, he tried to overtake Ax in a spot that was certainly not the best one... Ax kept on his line and touched Arek on his ‘nose’ and he spun, going to the gravel and falling to 18th place... All Arek could do now was to do the best recovering race that was possible and that’s what he did! Little by little he earned some positions and got up to the 11th place before his pit stop at the end of the 15th lap and then he came back to the track at the 16th place and once again was ‘struggling to survive’ doing his best and at the last lap that paid off, because he was at the 12th place, but earned 2 places with Ax and Grisu’s abandons, finishing in 10th place and scoring 1 little point – yay!!!
Joe McLaggen had only a few chances and short time to practice – he actually started practicing only on Saturday early in the morning (Mexico time), so he also tried his best to get to know the track and develop a good setup, both for quali and for race. He started at 14th and finished at 9th place, scoring a couple of points, which was not so bad! And he also had a nice and enjoyable race, with some good fights with lots of drivers – including me – and we all should congratulate Joe for being a fair, nice and good driver (and guy) and for doing his best since he doesn’t have too much time to practice like most of us – congrats Joe and better luck at Fuji!!!
Denis_Belarus started at 21st place, due to lots (and lots) of penalties from previous GPs but this time he actually did a pretty good race in all ways, including his ‘behaviour’... he didn’t ask for restarts... (LOL) he didn’t cause ‘crazy race incidents’... and he was also able to earn some positions here and there, little by little, whether from the other drivers mistakes, or by his own skills, fights and overtakes and he finished the race at the 7th place, also scoring points! Congrats, Denis!
Otti, currently the 2nd on the championship, right after Stig (currently the leader) didn’t make a great quali, starting only at 9th place, but he actually did a pretty good race! After all of that mess from the 1st laps, he started earning a few positions and got up to 8th place, but also had a tough fight with Sven, dropping to 9th, but then regaining the place one more time... And at the end of the 9th lap, he was able to overtake me and Luft (who were fighting for positions, right in front of him). Oh, did I mention that he actually hit the both of us and sent us to the gravel?!... Ok, we know it wasn’t on purpose, but we were having a good and clean fight right in front of him, so... try to be a little more careful next time, mate!... Anyway... Otti got the 4th place after that ‘race incident’ and only lost it when he went to his pit stop at the end of the 17th lap, coming back in 8th place, but going up again to 5th on the following lap when ax, Denis and Alex Hill also made their pits. And when Sven stopped at the end of the 24th lap, Otti was back in 4th place and going after Stig. As I said before, they had a pretty good fight for almost 10 laps and Otti overtook Stig a few times and finished one lap in front of him, but in the end Stig got the 3rd place back and Otti finished 4th.
Now let’s pack our bags again! This time we’re going to visit Alex Hill’s neighbours at Japan – let’s meet again in Fuji – yep, right next to the famous Mount Fuji and I hope we don’t get a volcanic eruption or any Godzilla there!... See you in 7 days, folks!!!
NEXT RACE: Pacific GP, at Fuji – February 5th, 2012 – 3pm UK time (DON’T GET LATE, PEEPS!!!)
...
*** UPDATE ***
Austrian GP penalties:
- SEXY BRIGADEIRO: 20 SECOND time penalty added on to race - causing avoidable collisions with Luft_Inspektor (lap 2) and Bober_Belarus (lap 14)
- BOBER_BELARUS: 20 SECOND time penalty added on to race - causing avoidable collision with Grisu at first corner of the race
- ARNOLDINHU: +5 place grid drop at next race - causing avoidable collision with Giorgos at first corner of the race
- SONNY: +5 place grid drop next race (carried over from Monaco, not applied at Austrian Grand Prix)
- ADI: +1 place grid drop next race (chatting in race)
AUSTRIA DRIVERS’ POINTS (after penalties):
1 – Soutie (Virgin) – 25 points
2 – ADI (Force India) – 18 points
3 – Stig (Mercedes) – 15 points
4 – Otti (Sauber) – 12 points
5 – Denis_Belarus (STR) – 10 points
6 – Sven (Ferrari) – 8 points
7 – Joe McLaggen (McLaren) – 6 points
8 – Arek (HRT) – 4 points
9 – Sexy Brigadeiro (Force India) – 2 points
10 – Bober_Belarus (STR) – 1 point
AUSTRIA TEAMS’ POINTS (after penalties):
1 – Virgin – 25 points
2 – Force India – 20 points
3 – Mercedes – 15 points
4 – STR – 11 points
5 – Sauber – 12 points
6 – Ferrari – 8 points
7 – McLaren – 6 points
8 – HRT – 4 points
First thing to say: This was our most ‘crowded’ race on the season so far! 23 drivers, of the 24 avaliable seats – that was GREAT!!!
And just like we knew from the practice sessions throughout the week, the race also had a GREAT potential: the circuit was short, easy (although a little bit tricky in a few spots) and fast, which put lots of drivers together on their hotlaps, lots of drafts and amazing fights & overtakes… which also made everything a little more dangerous and unpredictable…
So, let’s start from the end (LOL)...
It was another GREAT victory for the Bafana Bafana Guy, AKA Soutie, AKA Sam, AKA He-Is-Faster-Than-Us-All-DAMN!!! Anyway… No storms on South Africa today, so he was able to get the pole and to stay on the lead the whole race and after 35 laps of pure pressure from the Force India Young Dracula, AKA ADI, AKA Adrian, AKA He-Thinks-He-Is-Faster-Than-Sexy (bwahahaha...) Soutie was able to actually finish his 2nd race on the season so far – and guess what?!... 2 races (finished)... 2 victories – BAM!!! On your face, motherfooks!!! Ok, ok, we must count that race in Monaco that he DIDN'T finish because of those storms and blab bla bla... Still every race he finished so far... he won! So, congrats Sam for the amazing job and stats!
ADI also had a GREAT race, even without having a good qualifying... He started in 7th place, but was able to go to 4th place after the 1st lap and got two positions on the following laps overtaking Tom McKay and then Stig and finally got to 2nd place and started hunting Soutie down... literally! Lap after lap ADI was trying his best to go faster than Sam – who is always fast as we all know – DUH!... – but still ADI was being able to go faster than him in lots of laps, which made Sam a little annoyed and worried and he almost prayed for another storm, so IF he was overtaken, he would have a good excuse...
Still Sam was able to ‘hold’ ADI and just stayed on the lead the whole race, even after the pit stop and also didn’t have problems in lapping the other guys, who gently opened/reduced allowing him and the other faster guys to pass. ADI trailed the best he could, was faster than Sam in lot of laps and even had the fastest lap of the whole race with 1:09.545, but still it wasn’t enough to get to Sam, who won the race 2.6 seconds ahead of ADI. Stig was the other guy on the lowest place of the podium – but don’t make fun of him! At least he was there!
BTW, Stig (AKA The-Most-Fantastic-Human-Being-EVAH-Or-At-Least-He-Thinks-So) had a good and clean start and also tried to go after Soutie on the 1st laps, but he found out that was REALLY hard... And on the 4th lap, he made a mistake on T3 and was overtaken by ADI. Stig stayed on the 3rd place for almost the entire race, except when ADI went to his pit stop and Stig recovered the 2nd place for a lap. Then he went to his own pit stop and came back on 4th place, because Sven was one of the lat ones to stop for tires, but when he finally stopped, Stig was able to recover his 3rd place. At the final laps Stig had a hard time trying to hold Otti and they had some good fights for about 10 laps! And on the 29th lap, they switched positions 3 times and Otti finally got the 3rd place! But on the 30th lap, Stig was able to overtake Otti again and made sure he wasn’t going to lose that 3rd place again – still Otti kept giving some pressure on Stig’s ass (Wait!... Wtf?!... Anyway...) still it was not enough for the ‘I’m Not Swiss, Cheese!’ guy to get to the podium this time... Congrats the both of you for the amazing and clean fight!
As for me... my race was good, but it could’ve been better for sure!... I started in 10th place (originally I would start in 11th, but with some other guys penalties – thanks, guys! – I earned an extra place – yay!) and I finished in 5th. I had a good start and was able to avoid crashes and race incidents at the 1st corner and 1st lap – I will talk about that next... just keep reading, kids! – and I jumped from 10th to 5th on the 1st lap, ‘Ayrton Senna In Donigtom 93 style’ – ha! But since I’m not Senna (unfortunately... well... maybe fortunately, because... he is dead now, you know?!... Anyway...) I was trying to gain more positions – which I did: I got to 4th place after Tom McKay tried to suicide... Or some new stunt driver way to make a crazy race strategy with a drive through on the 3rd lap... (I’ll talk about that later too)... But, as I was saying, I’m not Senna, so... while I was trying to go after ADI and Stig, I made a silly mistake on the 7th lap, by going to the gravel on the last 2 corners and that was enough to let Stig get away (damn, I was a little faster than him!) and then I had Luft_inspektor trying to get close to my ass, but... I actually don't like that kind of thing and... my girlfriend is jealous...
But while having a good fight with him, I made another mistake and almost lost complete control of my car, so I had to brake a little bit too much to actually keep my car on track (yep, on the same last 2 corners – the tricky ones) and then while recovering from the mistake, I got hit on the back by Otti and went to the gravel again (nice!)... losing 5 places and dropping to 9th... yay... NOT!!! -.- Anyway... I tried my best to make a recovery race and was able to go faster than some guys in front of me and after the pit stop, I was in 8th place and was able to overtake the two McLarens in a good and clean fight with Joe and then Grisu – after Sven stopped, I got back to 5th place and was able to go, once again, faster than Otti and Stig who were in front of me, but not enough to get closer to them and to overtake them, so... yep, I believe I could’ve been 3rd and got my 1st podium, but there’s no one else to blame but ME, for it was all because of my own mistakes and no excuses needed... Well, giving it a better thought... I guess I wish I was Senna now... except that I also wish I could stay alive... Another important highlights (or not exactly ‘highlights’...) from other drivers:
- 1st corner wasn’t so crashy EXCEPT for our dear Belarus friend, Bober, who braked a 'little bit' to late and seemed to be bowling or something (Grisu said ‘thank you!’)... Still I’m sorry for hitting him on the back at the 14th lap (T3), but I SWEAR he was too slow and (THIS time he) braked too much! I even tried to go over the internal kerb to avoid him... Unfortunately it was impossible. He spun and is probably mad at me... But I’m honestly sorry.
- Arnoldinhu tried to avoid the ones who crashed in front of him (since he started last), but ended up hitting Giorgos on the back and losing his front wing... He made a pit stop at the end of the 1st lap for a new wing and on the 2nd lap, guess what?!... He lost control of his car and hit the wall and broke the suspension... Another pit stop at the end of the 2nd lap for him... And right after leaving the pits, his engine blew... - definitely a race to forget! Sorry, Arnie! See you on Fuji!
- Antonio Hreljanovic did a GREAT start, jumping from 19th to 12th place (he was even in front of his dad, Sven!), but at T3 (yet on 1st lap) he went to the grass a little bit and hit Bober (who was on the grass too, recovering from a previous race incident - or having a snack?!...) and lost his front wing... went to the pits, got back on track, but due to the lack of practice, made some mistakes, went out of the track a few more times, was overtaken by almost everyone and abandoned the race at the beginning of the 8th lap... Better luck next week, buddy!
- Sonny once again was driving like if he had one hand on the wheel and another hand holding some ‘russian beer’, but he was actually doing a good job until he had some connection issue at the end of the 9th lap – now I feel really sorry for him... On MY replay, he just went straight on the last corner and suddenly appeared on the pits (but without actually crashing) - I also wish you a better luck at Fuji – and guys, someone PLEASE buy Sonny a new table – he said he HAS a wheel, but just can’t put it on his table, so now he needs a new table instead... and a little bit more alcohol, as always!
- Luft_inspektor had a good fight with me and I’m still sorry for slightly touching him (not on purpose, obviously) at T3, lap 2, which was ebough for him to step on the grass and lose time and a couple of places... But after that another silly mistake I made (when I was hit by Otti), he was able to ‘get rid’ of me again and then had a nice fight with ax89, until he hit the internal wall of the last corner, at the 11th lap and lost his front wing. After trying his best to get to the pits and fix it, he was hit by his own teammate Tom McKay, who didn’t expect him to be so slow – so THAT was certainly a race incident and also an unfortunate ‘friendly fire’... and while Luft was trying to recover, he was hit again by King Dario, at the pit entrance – Oh, boy, what a mess!... He was able to literally drag his car until the pit, but the crew saw it was just impossible to fix all of that shit so... he was forced to abandon... It was a shame, because he clearly had a chance to have a better and pretty good race – just like his teammate Tom McKay – so... it was a bad day for the Red Bull team...
- Tom Mckay on the other hand, had a good start, going from 6th to 3th after T1, but he was overtaken by ADI and then got the place back before T2. Then he was overtaken by Bober_Belarus and once again, with a smart maneuver, giving Bober the internal (right) side of of the braking point to T3, he was able to get the place back again and Bober, who braked a little bit too late (again) ended up on the grass (and that's actually why Antonio ended up hitting him, remember?!)... But Tom was pressured by ADI a little ahead and it was impossible to hold him, so Tom was again on 4th place, until he just stepped the kerb a little bit too much right before the last corner and his car spun and ended up getting into the pit entrance – LOL – 'Tommy Mac Eye' had no choice but to take a ride at the Pit Lane Park (AKA making a ‘self forced drive through’)... He waved to the pit crew and also to some blonde chick who waved back saying ‘call me!’... And when Tom got back to reality, he was on 19th place and started a recovering race... He had a hard time trying not to make mistakes and waste time with fights, but still the best he could do was to go back to 10th place before his 'real pit stop' (for changing tires) at the 18th lap. Then he got back to 15th place, was able to make it up to the 12th place a few laps later and while trying to get to 11th place, he slightly hit Sven on the back at T1, on the 27th lap and spun, falling to 13th place... He actually tried to avoid Sven, who was slower than him, but Tom ended up stepping on the external kerb a little bit (and also touching Sven’s ass – ooh, you nasty boys!), which was enough to make him spin... And at T3 on the 31st lap, Tom lost his rear and hit the wall also losing his front wing... He was overtaken by Alex Hill, falling to 14th, the place in which he stayed until the end of the race, even after being forced to go to the pits for the 3rd time... I guess he REALLY liked that blonde (and I hope it wasn't a drag queen)... - oh, don’t cry, Sven! [/w Tom: call him too!...]
Sven had a good start. Jumped from 13th to 9th on the 1st lap and then to 7th place at the end of the 2nd lap. But he got some pressure from Otti and Luft and ended up going back to 9th place. After that, he little by little earned a few positions here and there and tried to stay on the track the best he could – I mean, he was the last one to go for the pit stop and he gained a lot of places by doing that! He only made his stop at the 24th lap, when he was in 3rd place! Great race until then, Boss! He came back in 9th place and had a good fight with Ax, going to 8th and while trying to overtake Joe McLaggen, he went to the gravel on the last corner and got back to 11th place!... Right after that, he and Tom had their little ‘affair’, as mentioned above... At the last laps, Sven had a good fight with Joe and Arek and... damn, Boss, you’re lucky!!! Right after being overtaken by both of them, they got out of the track and you got their positions back, going to 9th! And a little ahead, you also got ax’s position, because he ran out of fuel on the lap 34th (with only ONE lap remaining) – so, Sven finished 8th and gave Ferrari a few more points!
Ax89 also had a pretty good race, but was a little bit out of luck... He started well, had some good fights with other drivers and was earning positions little by little. He got up to 5th place when he stopped to change tires at the end of the 18th lap. Got back on track at the 11th place and once again kept having some good fights and earning some positions, little by little, getting up to the 6th place, BUT... on the 34th lap... well, you’ve just read what happened above – I guess all luck was given to Sven and stolen from ax – LOL! Still ax was able to finish at 11th place – he started at 12th, so... it was a ‘positive’ (you earned 1 position fron start to finish) race in a way or the other... LOL
Giorgos was out of luck at the start... he got hit on the back by Arnoldinhu and lost his rear wing, which made almost impossible to drive and get his car back to the pits... he spun at least 3 times trying to get there... But still he did it and got back on the race, even on the back of the grid. He was able to earn a few positions from the other guys who abandoned the race and he got up to the 19th place, when he abandoned at the 20th lap, after being hit by Alex Hill on T2 - did you just give up, Giorgos?...
Alex Hill had a messy start and dropped from 11th to 14th place at the end of the 1st lap. Then little by little was trying to recover and his best place was 6th, right before stopping for tires at the end of the 19th lap. He got back in 16th place and once again was trying to recover and earn a few positions – which he did and finished in 13th place – not a good race for the China Boy, also because it was the 1st time he was lapped... shit happens, mate – cheers!
Goa09 had a good 1st lap too! He went from 20th to 16th place! But on the following laps, while fighting against Jure Pazin for the 15th place, he ended up losing his place to Bober_Belarus and Arek, droping to 18th and at the 5th lap, after his own mistake while accelerating on T3, he spun and fell to 20th place again... He was able to earn a few more positions, but lost everything when he strangely abandoned the race at the end of the 20th lap...
King Dario DIDN’T chat – YAY!!! (and he also started at 22nd and finished at 17th with a blown engine – and still it was an improvement – everybody knows how fast he is at BMW Battlestats and when he finally ‘learn’ the LMT mod, he’s gonna be a tough driver – he actually did some pretty good and fast laps at the practice and at the quali. He only started at 22nd, because he was penalized for chatting over and over again both in Turkey and on Monaco during quali and/or race sessions – now that the FINALLY didn’t chat, he got his ‘best’ result so far – 3 races only – and if he doesn’t make the same mistakes again, he won’t be penalized at Fuji, so... he has a chance to do an even better race there – we’ll see!...)
Jure Pazin wasn’t able to do a good race like he did in Monaco and after lots of ups and downs, he started at 16th and also finished in 16th place...
BläckFöx also finished in the same position he started: 15th place. He was able to go up to 10th place before his pit stop for tires at the end of the 13th lap. But unfortunately, at the beginning on the 20th lap, at T1, while on 12th place and having Tom McKay up on his ass (I didn’t know you liked those things, Black! You should tell Stig...), Black stepped the external kerb a little bit and it was enough to make him spin and ended up hitting the wall on the right side of the track and losing his front wing... After replacing his wing, he got back in 17th place, but was able to overtake Dario and Jure and finished in 15th place – but we must THANK YOU, Black, because once again you LEFT us go faster than you, since you only used 0,0000001% of your total strength, right?... Yeah, right!...
Grisu did a pretty good race, but was also extremely out of luck!... He was the one hit harder by Bober on T1 at the start and fell from 4th to 19th place... He was ‘lucky’ not to break his rear wing and then he started a recovering race. He decided to try a completely different strategy – probably to get out of the huge traffic from the 1st laps – so he went to his pit stop (for tires) at the end of the 4th lap! Would he be able to make 31 laps with softs?!... Well... the answer is NO. He tried his best to save the tires, but after recovering LOTS of positions and going up to 5th place, he was forced to do another stop at the end of the lap 34th, after being overtaken by me, ax, Bober and Denis... But Grisu actually spun at the pit entrance and it seems that he just gave up – I don’t blame him... He got his whole race screwed up by another driver... I know how it feels...
Arek also got his share of bad luck... again... At the start, while being careful and trying to avoid the other cars and not get involved in race incidents, he went out of the track on T1 and tried to accelerate carefully, so he wouldn’t spin, but the fact is that he dropped from 3rd to 9th place and then was struggling behind Ax... And at the last 2 corners, although Arek was faster, he tried to overtake Ax in a spot that was certainly not the best one... Ax kept on his line and touched Arek on his ‘nose’ and he spun, going to the gravel and falling to 18th place... All Arek could do now was to do the best recovering race that was possible and that’s what he did! Little by little he earned some positions and got up to the 11th place before his pit stop at the end of the 15th lap and then he came back to the track at the 16th place and once again was ‘struggling to survive’ doing his best and at the last lap that paid off, because he was at the 12th place, but earned 2 places with Ax and Grisu’s abandons, finishing in 10th place and scoring 1 little point – yay!!!
Joe McLaggen had only a few chances and short time to practice – he actually started practicing only on Saturday early in the morning (Mexico time), so he also tried his best to get to know the track and develop a good setup, both for quali and for race. He started at 14th and finished at 9th place, scoring a couple of points, which was not so bad! And he also had a nice and enjoyable race, with some good fights with lots of drivers – including me – and we all should congratulate Joe for being a fair, nice and good driver (and guy) and for doing his best since he doesn’t have too much time to practice like most of us – congrats Joe and better luck at Fuji!!!
Denis_Belarus started at 21st place, due to lots (and lots) of penalties from previous GPs but this time he actually did a pretty good race in all ways, including his ‘behaviour’... he didn’t ask for restarts... (LOL) he didn’t cause ‘crazy race incidents’... and he was also able to earn some positions here and there, little by little, whether from the other drivers mistakes, or by his own skills, fights and overtakes and he finished the race at the 7th place, also scoring points! Congrats, Denis!
Otti, currently the 2nd on the championship, right after Stig (currently the leader) didn’t make a great quali, starting only at 9th place, but he actually did a pretty good race! After all of that mess from the 1st laps, he started earning a few positions and got up to 8th place, but also had a tough fight with Sven, dropping to 9th, but then regaining the place one more time... And at the end of the 9th lap, he was able to overtake me and Luft (who were fighting for positions, right in front of him). Oh, did I mention that he actually hit the both of us and sent us to the gravel?!... Ok, we know it wasn’t on purpose, but we were having a good and clean fight right in front of him, so... try to be a little more careful next time, mate!... Anyway... Otti got the 4th place after that ‘race incident’ and only lost it when he went to his pit stop at the end of the 17th lap, coming back in 8th place, but going up again to 5th on the following lap when ax, Denis and Alex Hill also made their pits. And when Sven stopped at the end of the 24th lap, Otti was back in 4th place and going after Stig. As I said before, they had a pretty good fight for almost 10 laps and Otti overtook Stig a few times and finished one lap in front of him, but in the end Stig got the 3rd place back and Otti finished 4th.
Now let’s pack our bags again! This time we’re going to visit Alex Hill’s neighbours at Japan – let’s meet again in Fuji – yep, right next to the famous Mount Fuji and I hope we don’t get a volcanic eruption or any Godzilla there!... See you in 7 days, folks!!!
NEXT RACE: Pacific GP, at Fuji – February 5th, 2012 – 3pm UK time (DON’T GET LATE, PEEPS!!!)
...
*** UPDATE ***
Austrian GP penalties:
- SEXY BRIGADEIRO: 20 SECOND time penalty added on to race - causing avoidable collisions with Luft_Inspektor (lap 2) and Bober_Belarus (lap 14)
- BOBER_BELARUS: 20 SECOND time penalty added on to race - causing avoidable collision with Grisu at first corner of the race
- ARNOLDINHU: +5 place grid drop at next race - causing avoidable collision with Giorgos at first corner of the race
- SONNY: +5 place grid drop next race (carried over from Monaco, not applied at Austrian Grand Prix)
- ADI: +1 place grid drop next race (chatting in race)
AUSTRIA DRIVERS’ POINTS (after penalties):
1 – Soutie (Virgin) – 25 points
2 – ADI (Force India) – 18 points
3 – Stig (Mercedes) – 15 points
4 – Otti (Sauber) – 12 points
5 – Denis_Belarus (STR) – 10 points
6 – Sven (Ferrari) – 8 points
7 – Joe McLaggen (McLaren) – 6 points
8 – Arek (HRT) – 4 points
9 – Sexy Brigadeiro (Force India) – 2 points
10 – Bober_Belarus (STR) – 1 point
AUSTRIA TEAMS’ POINTS (after penalties):
1 – Virgin – 25 points
2 – Force India – 20 points
3 – Mercedes – 15 points
4 – STR – 11 points
5 – Sauber – 12 points
6 – Ferrari – 8 points
7 – McLaren – 6 points
8 – HRT – 4 points
Last edited by Sexy Brigadeiro on 30th January 2012, 1:37 am; edited 7 times in total
